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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22440550">Remember Me / Getting By</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/methamphetamine/pseuds/methamphetamine'>methamphetamine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, M/M, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:35:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,298</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22440550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/methamphetamine/pseuds/methamphetamine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>REMEMBER ME:</p><p>David Anderson, a fresh faced new recruit brought straight out of training into the first contact war. A few hours before he's deployed, he shares a moment with someone he holds dear, but who may never come back.</p><p>GETTING BY:</p><p>Hindsight is always 20/20, but David realises that he shouldn't look at the past with rose-tinted glasses.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Anderson/Original Male Character(s), Female Shepard &amp; David Anderson, Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. REMEMBER ME</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The underbelly of the ship was always loud, the noise of the engines almost deafened David whenever he came down, part of the reason he almost never ventured in there, but Callum didn't seem to mind; in fact, he almost looked at home in the noisy engine room. The pale-skinned man had always been weird like that, preferring the squalor down here rather than the, comparatively, luxurious crew quarters. That's what made David like Callum so much, if he was honest. The fact that the other man wasn't afraid to stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the other new recruits (he did anyway because of his biotic abilities, but that was beside the point).</p><p>David wouldn't call it a romance, what they had was far more precious than something that could be so easily thrown away, it was more of a deep understanding, a connection that seemed, to the casual observer, to be on a different plane of existence. But when you untangled the few short months in which they had known each other, all those mixed emotions and half-planned ideas of running away together after the war was over, what you got was something... very, very human.</p><p>"David." Callum's lilting accent rose just above the roar of the engines. He had obviously seen through David's attempts at being subtle, as if lingering around the underbelly of the ship had really been all that stealthy in the first place, and had decided to directly call him out. "What are you doing here?" He asked softly. </p><p>"I-" David started to say, caught for a moment in a haze of wanting desperately to make excuses and the strangest urge to just tell the truth. "I don't know." He said eventually, after a short pause. A compromise, in his mind. Callum smiled gently at him, looking almost serene in the dull, unflattering lights that flickered with each bit of turbulence that the ship encountered.</p><p>"C'mere." Said Callum, extending an arm out to David. The shorter man complied, tucking himself under Callum's arm in a sort of lopsided hug. It hurt David's heart to think that, realistically and even metaphorically, in fact, in almost every way possible, they could never be together. Both of them were about to be sent out in a war, for god's sake. There was no place for their kind of love in a fucking war against an alien race. They both knew that and, yet, they persisted in this fruitless endeavour. Stealing kisses in this godforsaken engine room when they thought no one was watching, hugging each other tight when they knew that one of them may end up dead, when they knew that it wouldn't be David covered in a flag, six feet under. He was too much of a promising recruit for them to let go, but they both knew that Callum was entirely expendable.</p><p>"I love you." Said David, leaning up to press his lips to Callum's. A short moment passed, the two savouring what would probably be one of their last few seconds together. David tasted salt on his lips, tears that he wished he could kiss away until his lovers eyes were no longer rimmed red and his mouth no longer pressed into a thin line, straining against sobs that wanted to burst free.</p><p>"I lo-" Callum started to say, voice pitched slightly higher than usual.</p><p>"Anderson to the Captain's quarters." Said the ship's AI, monotone voice crushing any form of sanctuary they may have found in each other. </p><p>"It's time." David said, words devoid of emotion, but face full of unspoken promises. He knew Callum understood, he could tell by the way their fingers brushed for a little too long as they shook hands, or by the way the taller man's arm shook as he snapped a sarcastic salute in David's direction.</p><p>"I love you." Were the last words he ever heard Callum say, almost lost to the general din and clutter of the engine room. David heard them, for the last time. He kept them close to his chest as he strode towards the elevator, as he stood through the briefing in the Captain's quarters.</p><p>He kept them close, even as he charged into battle against enemies unknown, risking his life, part of him hoping that he would be torn cruelly away from life by a stray bullet. But he wasn't; David Anderson was to keep those words with him until he would die, many, many years later.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. GETTING BY</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was as David Anderson watched his protégée and her asari girlfriend, a new member of the crew that they had picked up on Therum, that he thought of all his own past romances. From the time he had been known by another name, to more recent adventures. He remembered when he was seventeen, barely even transitioned, being so in love with this one quarian who had little interest in him and finding out that, sometimes, love hurts, but other times it can be so ethereal that it feels like you could fly if you wanted. That's what the two lovebirds, Jay and Liara, had; love so unconditional that it almost stung to look at. He remembered Callum, a human so sweet and full of life, considered expendable by their higher-ups, who had died cruelly on the battlefield, his biotics torn to shreds by gunfire in the conflict. He thought back to all his other past loves, whether significant in the now or not.</p><p>"Anderson." Jay's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked at her grinning face and smiled back. Nowadays she looked much happier, when they had first met she had been full of barely concealed rage, but she was starting to calm down a little now that she had Liara, the asari had a good effect on her, one that David approved of. Of course, she was still a renegade to her core, but she valued her friends and was kind where it mattered. </p><p>"What is it Shepard?" He asked formally, there were other crew members around and, although most, if not all, knew his and Jay's history, it didn't hurt to keep an air of professionalism in the company of others. She sat down next to him at the canteen table of The Normandy and put a hand on his arm, a familiar gesture.</p><p>"I don't know what you're thinking," She began, hesitating a little. Jay had never been very good at expressing her emotions thanks to years of trauma and an absent biological father, but David was proud to say that, with encouragement, she was getting there. Jay made a face before continuing. "But don't beat yourself up about shit that's happened, okay?" She said, her voice surprisingly soft; something along the lines of a daughter reprimanding her father for buying another Hawaiian shirt. David grinned internally at the mental image that he got from that thought.</p><p>"Thank you." He said, clapping her on the arm with enough force to knock over a fully-grown turian. Jay, as always, didn't budge an inch, she just grinned and squeezed his arm. "Now get back to Liara, I'm sure she's missing you already." He told her with a smile of his own. Jay rolled her eyes playfully and got up from the table, joining Liara who, David noticed, had been observing the two of them curiously. He smiled at her and she smiled back. It truly did make him wistful to see the two of them together, but he was content seeing the person who he considered a daughter looking so happy.</p><p>Maybe his past loves simply weren't meant to be, maybe there would be someone out there who he could happily retire with. Only time would tell and, truth be told, David was happy to wait.</p>
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